Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday fired back at Special Assistance to Prime Minister Naeem-ul-Haq for his threatening tweets to revoke production order of Shehbaz Sharif. Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House along with Khawaja Asif, he criticised the government for its failure to address genuine issues of the masses and indulging in petty politics.
"If the leader of the opposition won't come to the National Assembly, the leader of the House won't either," Abbasi said. Shehbaz Sharif has been participating in the National Assembly session on production orders issued by Speaker Asad Qaisar. Sharif is currently jailed on corruption charges while National Accountability Bureau has been investigating multiple corruption cases against him.
On Wednesday night, a close aide of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Naeem-ul-Haq warned Sharif against targeting the Prime Minister with "personal" attacks while threatening that the PML-N leader would "spend more time in jail sulking" if his production orders are to be revoked.
"Shahbaz better decide if he wants to play a positive role in NA and instruct his chamchas to behave. How dare he and his chamchas make personal attacks on PM in the NA? Does he want to spend more time in jail sulking? Does he want his production orders to be revoked? Last chance," Haq tweeted.
"If Shehbaz wants to come to NA to abuse the PM and encourage his chamchas to do the same then he should know that the production order is not meant for this. He must make a commitment to abide by the decisions of the Ethics Committee and the Rules of Business," Haq said.
Khaqan Abbasi said the PML-N leadership wanted to raise the issue of his threats on the floor of the House but was not allowed to do so by the Speaker.
Khawaja Asif on the occasion slammed Haq's tweets and said the PTI leader is speaking in the language of the Prime Minister. There seems to be a race in PTI on use of abusive language.
He said that the PML-N wants the Parliament to continue its job. "Governments come and go but the Parliament should continue functioning," he said, adding, "If this is the environment they want to create in the Parliament, we are also ready for it."